Strip method vs FUE? So confused!

[Jeffrey Epstein, MD]

Over the past 2 years, after specializing in surgical hair restoration since 1994 - the majority of the time performing follicular unit grafting- FUE has now become the most frequent hair restoration procedure we perform. What is important is not what device is used to extract the device, for they all have their role, but the quality of the grafts, then how the recipient sites are then created which is the key aesthetic step. In our office, we use our own custom-designed drill with 0.8 and 0.9mm punches, achieving the most viable best grafts.

[JoeTillman]

I agree with Dr. Epstein's latest post above.

1. The healing process for the donor site in the strip method is much longer than the Artas.

Or FUE in general. ARTAS is irrelevant.

2. The donor site pain after the strip procedure lasts about two weeks and can remain tender for about a month. Everytime you bend your neck forward, you will be reminded of the donor site for the first month. In contrast, the donor site of the Artas procedures is much less painful, needs no stitching, and by one month, the sites are hard to find even with the naked eye.

Or FUE in general. ARTAS is irrelevant.

3. About the quality of the grafts, I find the grafts very hardy and healthy when using the Artas.

But compared to strip?

4. In the strip technique, a large sliver of skin is removed from the back of the scalp. The strip is sliced into individual grafts for placement. In this process, many grafts are damaged, bisected, or otherwise deemed as not usable. These will be discarded. This is a big waist and those follicles are gone for good, and remember you only have a finite number of hair follicles.

You're doing it wrong.

In contrast, if the Artas transcects any hair follicle, that is done upon punching the scalp, and the top of the follicle will be removed. However, the hair bulb (the areas important for hair regrowth) is still in your scalp and that hair will regrow. So with Artas, there is less permanent damage to the follicles.

Unmitigated bullsh*t. I hope you don't tell your patients this.

However the one millimeter punch used to extract the hairs leaves such a small hole that once healed it is not detectable by the naked eye.

You can't guarantee this as there are too many factors to consider.

It is this type of blanket misinformation that leads to uninformed patients being unhappy. If you wish to promote ARTAS do so on the merits it possesses that separate it from other forms of FUE, not FUSS.

[John P. Cole, MD]

There a a vast difference between those who actually perform a procedure and those who either don't perform procedures or they depend on others to perform the procedure. It's like feeling your graft implantation is good when you have never really done it yourself or feeling that the grafts you dissect from strips are good when you have never dissected the grafts from strips. I think that rarely performing these procedures leaves you in no better position to have an opinion.

Artas has major flaws. I do not think it should be used by anyone at this point. The reasons are simple. The transection rate is high. Approximately 26% of the grafts go missing and no one can explain where they go. The procedure is quite slow. Too many grafts are harvested right next to one another leaving empty holes. The machine creates large wounds and we don't always need large wounds to extract healthy grafts. The machine harvests too deep making more invasive. The machine has a difficult time extracting from the sides of the scalp and the nape of the neck.

Many physicians charge for the graft attempts rather than the number of grafts placed with the Artas. Make sure you know what they are going to do prior to sitting in the chair.

I know you cannot expect all cases to do well with only one or two punches. I actually do my surgeries. That's why I know what I'm talking about.

[megan88]

The main difference between the FUE hair transplantation and strip surgery is in the way donor-hair is obtained. Generally FUE hair transplant gives greater customer satisfaction as well as recovery. So I will definitely go with FUE hair transplant.
If you decided to go with FUE then back look of your head looks like a Natural and in case of strip surgery it looks like a Scarring. However FUE surgery is much more expensive than the strip surgery.